24,000 Reasons
We’re sure there will be thousands (perhaps even hundreds of thousands) of additional reasons forthcoming, but in seeking to ascertain why former S.C. House Majority Leader and undeclared 2010 gubernatorial candidate Jimmy Merrill would sell out the conservative cause and cast his lot with House Speaker Bobby Harrell’s big government agenda, we may have found the first 24,000 reasons.
Or more precisely, the first $24,000.
According to State Ethics Commission reports, Harrell’s political action committee paid $24,000 back in June of this year to Geechie Communications, the public relations firm owned by Merrill.
Hmmm … no wonder Merrill was so eager to help Harrell and new Majority Leader Kenny Bingham go on the warpath against fiscal conservatives earlier this month, guaranteeing that one of the most fiscally liberal Republicans in all of state government would be appointed to lead a key economic development committee.
Merrill likes to boast about his conservative voting record, but behind the scenes he’s nothing but a fluffer for Harrell’s vindictive brand of Soviet style (the governor’s words, not ours) government interventionism – the very philosophy that has our state in its current mess.
“Sooner or later it all comes down to money,” Don Henley once sang.
And rest assured, we’re going to track down every last red cent of it …
UPDATE – So yeah … Bruce Springsteen apparently sang that lyric, not Don Henley (thanks, Boss). We were listening to “Dirty Laundry” in Speaker Harrell’s honor while we were writing this and must’ve gotten confused. None of that, of course, changes the fact that Jimmy Merrill is a total sellout.
Nor does it change the fact that a few months ago, former S.C. Senator Catherine Ceips was denied access backstage at a Bruce Springsteen concert in North Charleston, which we now have an excuse to work into a story.
Comments
By The Boss on December 10th, 2008 at 1:42 pm
Henley never sang that lyric, bitch; it from my kick-ass song “The Big Muddy.” Ya know, you’re always just a teeny bit short of getting it right. The lyrics in their entirety are printed below.
As penance, I demand that my song be made Today’s Tuneage, retro to this morning, and that you post a proper homage to it. Fuck “Fuego.”
THE BIG MUDDY
Billy had a mistress down on ‘A’ and 12th
She was that little somethin’ that he did for himself
His own little secret didn’t hurt nobody
Come the afternoon he’d take her wadin’
Waist deep in the big muddy
Waist deep in the big muddy
You start out standing but end up crawlin’
Got in some trouble and needed a hand from a friend of mine
This old friend he had a figure in mind
It was nothing illegal just a little bit funny
He said “C’mon don’t tell me that the rich don’t know
Sooner or later it all comes down to money”
And you’re waist deep in the big muddy
Waist deep in the big muddy
You start on higher ground but end up crawlin’
Well I had a friend said “You watch what you do
Poison snake bites you and you’re poison too”
How beautiful the river flows and the birds they sing
But you and I we’re messier things
There ain’t no one leavin’ this world buddy
Without their shirttail dirty
Or their hands bloody
Waist deep in the big muddy
Waist deep in the big muddy
You start on higher ground but end up somehow crawlin’
By C'mon People on December 10th, 2008 at 2:12 pm
You are linking things lately that just don’t seem to work. $24k is not a lot of money for someone like Jim Merrill, so I seriously doubt he “sells out” for that. Just because someone is a client doesn’t mean you sell yourself out for them, and knowing Jim, I just don’t see this having much if any impact. $240k…maybe
By fitsnews on December 10th, 2008 at 2:22 pm
C’Mon-
Like we said, we just started looking into his Harrell-related $$$. We’re sure there’s more, and we’re sure it won’t be hard to find.
FITS
By Philip Branton on December 10th, 2008 at 2:26 pm
Come on……there’s more!
Take a peek at some landswappin going on statewide and what foundations some of the playmakers sit on…! Come on FITS….drop the REAL …Atom Bomb..!!
By EyesWideOpen on December 10th, 2008 at 2:30 pm
Go Bobby Go!!!!!
and C’Mon……look at it this way…..in politics it doesnt matter if it makes much sense or not. $24 k was transferred from one politician to another with no explanation of how or on what the money was spent……which leave you and joe the taxpayer wondering……was there any wrong doing?
Then you look at the two jokers implicated in this little tid bit….namely Bobby Harrell and Jim Merrill……and it would appear that not only are they both crooks from pharm dealings to school choice bullshit…..but their last names rhyme when read like that…
You can bet the (ph)farm that something dirtier than Jim Merrill’s letter to all the female interns or Bobby Harrell’s many busted business ventures is-a-brewing here…..
By James the Foot Soldier on December 10th, 2008 at 6:04 pm
It’s ALWAYS about the money with politicians – just follow the money and the truth will set you free.
By Gen. Longstreet on December 10th, 2008 at 6:05 pm
Hell, boys, I’d say that Jimbo and Bobby are waist deep in the big muddy.
By WMD on December 10th, 2008 at 6:33 pm
“General Longstreet” when are you going to stop and confess that you are Sic(KKK) Willie posting comments under a different name? Notice the (KKK).
Will you also then come and comment on the new WMD website which is UNDER CONSTRUCTION.
Will Folks will be exposed for what he is and we will track all of your comments to confirm that you are really Sic(KKK) Willie positing in disguise.
By Gen. Longstreet on December 10th, 2008 at 7:08 pm
Mr. WMD,
Sir, I would be delighted to visit your new website and thank you for the kind invitation. But who, Sir, is “Sic(KKK) Willie”? With my compliments, I remain,
Old Pete
By BIN News Editorial Staff on December 10th, 2008 at 7:31 pm
WMD,
Your web site needs some work. Get it fixed. Perhaps our staff and your staff need to talk. You seem to have keen insight into sic(k) willie’s scams.
None of our staff members are ready to let you date their daughters, but our team does appreciate your awareness of sic(k) willie’s scams.
Your awareness of his habit of posting under fake names to pump up his hit count is interesting.
BIN News Editorial Staff
Flair and Balanced
By James the Foot Soldier on December 10th, 2008 at 11:37 pm
BIN – sounds like you know the scam all too well!
By Donnie Bracoe on December 11th, 2008 at 1:11 am
Since you brought it up, SIC, why don’t you open up your books and let us know who’s paying you to write you’re little blog posts?
By From Chucktown on December 11th, 2008 at 3:53 am
We’ve seen this play out before. Rick Quinn’s firm got paid hundred’s of thousand’s of dollars to run mail and do polls for GOP caucus members. The State newspaper dug and dug and dug, but found nothing.
This is old news with a new target. Being a House member is supposed to be a part-time job, how else is the man supposed to make a living and feed his family. Just leave Jimmy alone.
By Silence the Noise on December 11th, 2008 at 10:29 am
BIN and WMD……sounds like you are the same person as well…..scandal.
Not to mention everytime you post your “multiple posts” you add to that “hit count.”
If you didnt believe what Fits was writing…..or you werent jealous as hell because you are completely inadequate and are incapable of writing similar stories…..then you would just stop reading….stop adding to the hit count….stop commenting and blasting your racist sputum……and I can assure you that everyone else that comes to this site for a legitimate read would be thankful….